[4] Also...

[4] Also, Imam Ali -asws when describing the noble qualities of a believer says: يُخَالِطُ النَّاسَ لِيَعْلَمَ وَ يَصْمُتُ لِيَسْلَمَ وَ يَسْأَلُ لِيَفْهَمَ وَ يَتَّجِرُ لِيَغْنَمَ لَا يُنْصِتُ لِلْخَبَرِ لِيَفْجُرَ بِهِ وَ لَا يَتَكَلَّمُ لِيَتَجَبَّرَ بِهِ عَلَى مَنْ سِوَاهُ نَفْسُهُ مِنْهُ فِي عَنَاءٍ وَ النَّاسُ مِنْهُ فِي رَاحَةٍ أَتْعَبَ نَفْسَهُ لآِخِرَتِهِ فَأَرَاحَ النَّاسَ مِنْ نَفْسِهِ إِنْ بُغِيَ عَلَيْهِ صَبَرَ حَتَّى يَكُونَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي يَنْتَصِرُ لَهُ بُعْدُهُ مِمَّنْ تَبَاعَدَ مِنْهُ بُغْضٌ وَ نَزَاهَةٌ وَ دُنُوُّهُ مِمَّنْ دَنَا مِنْهُ لِينٌ وَ رَحْمَةٌ لَيْسَ تَبَاعُدُهُ تَكَبُّراً وَ لَا عَظَمَةً وَ لَا دُنُوُّهُ خَدِيعَةً وَ لَا خِلَابَةً بَلْ يَقْتَدِي بِمَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَهُ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْخَيْرِ فَهُوَ إِمَامٌ لِمَنْ بَعْدَهُ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْبِرِّ He (a believer) mixes with the people to learn , and he is silent for safety, and he asks to understand, and he trades (discusses) to earn.

He does not listen to the ‘Khabar’ (news – the Ahadeeth) in order to do mischief with, nor does he speak in order to impress those who are in front of him.

[5] Finally, the perfect and beautiful debates of Rasool Allah -saww , the daughter of Rasool Allah -asws and the Holy Imams -asws , on all important topics of religion, provide us examples, where a leeway was made for the debators, i.e., if they could not answer a question, another question was put forward, without humiliating the questioner(s) and without slamming all the escape doors for him, and the Imam -asws would continue with their speech.

However, debaters of today, in particular on social media, argue to win a point, fearing they will lose their followers, without adhering to the Divine Guidelines on good debates. The debates from Ahl Al-Bayt -asws are recorded in almost all Ahadith Books, e.g., Sulym Ibn Qais Hilali, Tafeer Imam Hassan Al-Askari, Bihar Al-Anwaar, Uyon Akhbar Al-Reza.

[6] See Appendix I, where in a Hadith, Imam Al-Sadiq -asws gives leeway to Ummro, many times, whenever he is unable to reply to a question from the Imam -asws and remains silent.

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